The dispensing of fluid material at a precise location in a controlled manner presents many challenges due to the viscosity of the material and the precise location of delivery and form on an object. Conventional robot-mounted fluid dispensers are limited by the parameters of the robot, and thus often have significant performance limitations. For instance, the response time of conventional systems is relatively slow and not very accurate. As a consequence, the ability of the system to control an amount of dispensed fluid is limited, especially during rapid changes in the relative speed between a dispenser nozzle and the application site.
Moreover, various conventional fluid dispensing devices require extensive handling by an operator to load the fluid, which increases the risk of contamination. Such conventional devices are not capable of dispensing both high and low viscosity material from a cartridge, and are also unreliable. Therefore, there is a need for a reliable robot-mounted fluid dispensing system that has the ability to dispense high or low viscosity material from a prefilled cartridge. Further, there is a need for a fluid dispensing system that can automatically open or close a space to receive a replaceable fluid cartridge in order to reduce extensive handling.